Mismatch

- "There can be no simplicity until you understand the complexity" - 5^th law of simplicity - Simplicity and complexity need each other - _"For better or worse, the people who design the touchpoints of society determine who can participate, and who's left. Often unwittingly."_ ### Mismatches vs misfits - _Designing for inclusion starts with recognizing the exclusion_ - objects and people around us influence our ability to participate - mismatches are byproducts of design and building blocks of exclusion - _core elements of our identities are formed by our encounters with inclusion or exclusion (belonging somewhere, ...)_ - _we are naturally better in exclusion than in inclusion_ - inclusion is a skill that can be developed over time - there are three main fears of inclusion: 1. inclusion isn't nice - asking questions and listening is often the courageous way to start 2. Inclusion is imperfect - don't be afraid of getting it wrong first as it is common - inclusion is imperfect and requires humility - teaches us new ways of how to adopt to people's needs 3. Inclusion is ongoing - inclusion is like taking care of you teeth - it never ends - _no matter how well you cake care of your teeth, over time they require more effort_ ### Mismatches - a mismatch haunts every designer that wants to good something good - each mismatch gets amplified by the size of the audience - _we have the most to learn from leaders that have experienced the inclusion the most_ - "you can't play" - as the ultimate exclusive mindset present already in kids' environments - both `exclude` & `include` have a latin root `clandere` meaning close or that - represents a literal enclosure but also a mental model of separation - being inclusive tends to be the most difficult for people that are in charge - everyone knows how it is to feel excluded but it is hard to anticipate _when_ someone might get excluded - _inclusive design is about engaging with people that are different than you_ - a solution becomes a barrier when it's designed only for people with certain abilities - cyclical framework examines how we perpetuate mismatched design and shift towards inclusion: 1. why we make 2. who makes the solution 3. how we make 4. who uses it 5. what we make - all of those above are interrelated - the power to change should not only belong to people running the show but also to those that participate in it ### Cycle of exclusion - _Everyone gains and loses their abilities over the course of their life_ - exclusion touches everyone inevitably - Touchscreens make spaces unaccessible & unusable for people not seeing or not able to touch them - As our bodies change we witness more mismatches because designs don't evolve with our bodies - One way to change invisibility is to seek out perspectives of people who are most excluded by a solution - often people carrying the heaviest amount of exclusion have the greatest insights into how to shift design towards inclusion - incorrect design assumptions leading to mismatches - _exclusion habit_ - the belief that whoever starts the game also sets the rules of the game - especially tricky when originators are no longer available - _if inclusion isn't explicitly part of senior leadership, exclusion will be the default_ - building inclusion habits is best learned from people overcoming barriers every day - _AI as an opportunity for inclusive design bringing better tools for people relying on voice-assisted tools_ ### Inclusive designers - people struggling with exclusive designs often instead of using a thing play a meta-game to figure out how they can actually us the tool their way - the cycle of exclusion shifts toward inclusion when more people can openly participate as designers - 3 skills of successful inclusive designers: 1. identify ability biases and mismatched interactions between people and world 1. our abilities change also on micro-level - say a sense of sight when walking from a dark cinema to a well lit street 2. human ability, mostly cognitive, is the building block of design 1. tho abilities are limited and ever-changing 3. _of all biases the designers bring to their work, ability biases are the sneakiest - we tend to use our abilities as a baseline_ 2. create a diversity of ways to participate in an experience 1. mismatched solutions also arise when we create solutions with only one way to participate 2. Design Research Center from '93 from Ontario College of Art and design was _hiring designers having experienced barriers_ 3. __inclusive design how-might-we: "How many ways can a human being engage in a given activity?"__ 4. _participation does not require a particular design. But a particular design can prohibit participation._ 5. _Accessibility is an attribute, inclusive design is a method_ 1. often they come together, inclusive design should start with some initial accessibility requirements 6. universal design aims to build something fixed, that is accessible to the broadest spectrum possible 7. universal design is 'one size fits all', inclusive design is 'one size fits one' 8. _inclusive design might not lead to universal designs_ 1. an inclusive designer is someone who recognizes and remedies mismatched interactions between people and their worlds 3. design for interdependence and bring complementary skills together 1. it's important to know when to call an expert on accessibility but you should know when you have a deficit 2. four common accessibility challenges: 1. lack of educational resources 1. accessibility is rarely taught at schools 2. often you can easily find experts on the field 2. complex legal verbiage 1. law language can be hard to navigate 3. finding the signal in the noise 1. it takes time to identify specific needs of your context 4. A highly manual process 1. testing is often done manually - people with disabilities often rely on human assistants & assistive objects - interdependence is about matching complementary skills & mutual contributions - the society is a system of interdependent skills, an economy that includes many different types of masters - _much of today's design work isn't limited to people with the word "design" in their titles_ - among those evolving roles emerges inclusive design - as tech permeates intimate areas of our lives, design becomes an intimate act - people having experienced great degrees of exclusion can translate that expertise to the solution they create ### With & for - designing _for_ instead of _with_ leads to exclusion - one can often see barriers in urban planning pretty explicitly e.g. highway splitting the city into rich north & poor south - _no course of action should be denied without total contribution from the people affected by that course of action_ - "Diversity paired with passionate creativity improves the quality of life" ### Matchmaking aka "solving" exclusion - when changing from male -> female figures during crash tests, results are way more terrible - one strategy to design with and not for is to build a community of "exclusion experts" - i.e. people negatively affected by mismatches and willing to contribute to more inclusive version - men & women tend to prefer to learn differently - men are more exploratory while women like more guidance - it's worth considering that people learn differently - allowing people to contribute to the design (feedback, co-creation, ...) increases connection between the people and the solution - beware of building innovations on top of a system, that lacks basic accessibility - incentivize people to com up with inclusive solutions - _"Which human, exactly, should be at the center of a HCD process?"_ phrase as a critique of uniformization, 80:20, Bell curves, ... - Tech has a lot to learn from humans, especially from those having, especially from those having experiences in mismatched interactions - __The persona spectrum__ - inclusive design method that solves for one person and extends to many - e.g. captioning - can help people with hearing problems, people in noisy environments (airport) or to learn the language - can be used for all our (not on) sensory capabilities - is more than a continuum of ability - it's about understanding why people across the spectrum want to access that solution - exclusion might not need to be permanent, e.g. one-handedness: one handed > broken arm > carrying a child - inclusion requires us to shift our assumptions about who receives the things we design - _Build one-size-fits-one solutions to fit to people who likely face the greatest mismatches of your services_ ### Love stories - the _myth of the minority user_ - believing that people with disabilities are edge-cases - _What if, rather than trying to change how problem solvers about inclusion, we could build inclusivity by changing how we create solutions?_ - _only focusing on functional outcomes and neglecting emotional mismatches lead to exclusion_ ### Inclusion in designing the future - inclusion as a tool to combat uncertainty - __Design as a practice that contributes to the society in meaningful ways__ - when designing for inclusion we're designing for our future selves to be able to contribute to the society when we're less-abled - _inclusive growth_ - economic growth that creates opportunity for all segments of the population and distributes the dividends of increased prosperity fairly across society - 3 steps for inclusion: 1. recognize exclusion 2. learn from diversity 3. solve for one, extend to many - __"As a problem solver, you can shift the cycle towards inclusion, one choice at a time. With each design, you shape who can contribute their talents to society. Their contributions will shape to future of all of us."__